The Lead

Upon consulting with our Worldcom Public Relations Group partners, we learned that just because you have the technology to do it doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. In talking with our partners at HPR in Korea and AZ Worldcom Japan in Tokyo, we found that sending a Web-based survey to existing customers -- especially those in a B2B setting, is not recommended. When I pressed further, questioning why this wouldn't work given the technology savvy of buyers in those markets, both said it wasn't the technology at all that was the problem.

It was the culture.

You see, in many countries in Asia, the act of sending an impersonal e-mail and Web-based survey to a customer who you deem to be important is tantamount to giving your spouse an e-card on your anniversary. The customer will feel unimportant and underappreciated -- precisely opposite of what we intended.

So, here we are now, taking that Web-based survey and converting it into a hard copy -- to be delivered along with a personal letter from the country manager -- to each customer in Asia. We'll do manual translations, and we'll tally the results by hand.

And we'll have a better outcome because of it...